Fans of The Secret Circleare still grieving the loss of Nick (Louis Hunter) after last week’s game-changing episode, and while the surviving circle members will certainly be in mourning this week, there’s a new force in town who’s bound to shake things up even more. HollywoodLife.com chatted with Jessica Parker Kennedy(aka Nick’s “widow” Melissa) for the scoop on Chris Zylka, who makes his debut Oct. 20 as Chance Harbor’s newest bad boy.

“Jake is a really great character,” Jessica told us. “He’s mysterious and sexy and cool and he’s a bad boy.

Those are four pretty solid adjectives, but they could also be used to describe Melissa’s dearly departed hook-up buddy, Nick. Does that mean sparks will fly between Melissa and Jake — who also happens to be Faye’s (Phoebe Tonkin) ex-boyfriend — as well?

And it sounds like Jessica is having just as much fun working with Chris as Melissa is with Jake.

“Chris is one of the most delightful gentlemen I’ve ever met,” she told us. “He’s really a sweetheart — very mature, very kind, and very passionate about his work. He’s very, very good at what he does. We’re all very excited to work with him.”

And I think I speak for all Secret Circle when I say we’re excited to meet him!